Study On Punitive Damage In Domestic Consumer Public Interest Litigation

The full realization of consumers’ rights and interests is largely decided on whether they can obtain appropriate compensation when their rights are infringed.With the continuous development of social economy,the consumer public interest litigation system is also constantly improving.After the implementation of Civil Public Interest Litigation Rules for Prosecutor,the right to claim punitive damages in consumer public interest litigation has also been recognized at the level of legislation and judicial practice.According to the former studies,punitive compensation for consumer during public interest litigation refers to a compensation system,in which consumer’s personal or proprietary rights are damaged due to the intentional infringement or tort of negligence from the merchant whose goods and services contains defects or quality problems,and the competent authorities and relevant organizations requesting the merchant to give a certain amount of money during the public interest litigation.To a larger extent,the right to claim punitive damages in consumer public interest litigation has also solved problems such as protection of consumer rights and proper competition,providing institutional support for building an orderly business environment in China.However,there exist academic disputes on the scope of compensation,subject of compensation and distribution procedure of punitive damages in consumer public interest litigation.What’s more,there are still deficiencies in current design of the system of action for punitive damages in consumer public interest litigation,which mainly manifest in: First,it still remains in the traditional mode when it comes to the legislative model and contents;Second,there lacks unified planning in the litigation subjects’ qualification,function and power;Third,the distribution system is not established up to now.Therefore,the aim of this thesis is to rely on the theory of demonstration effect of punitive damages,and combine public interest litigation with private interest litigation theories,so as to integrate the legal systems of group action,representative action,litigation commitment,litigation trust and find the approach to legal practice.This paper mainly includes four parts.The first part is the conceptual interpretation of the consumer public interest litigation system and its punitive damages,which is based on the overall research and analysis of the consumer public interest litigation punitive damages.Through the analysis of the basic meaning,nature characteristics,and functional effectiveness of the consumer public interest litigation punitive damages,we can understand the overall consumer public interest litigation punitive damages system.The second part is the theoretical analysis of punitive damages in consumer public interest litigation,comparing the differences between different consumer public interest litigation models,and clarifying the theoretical basis of the consumer public interest litigation system.Based on the academic theories,the relevant legal issues are analyzed and discussed.The third part is to discuss the problems existing in the current punitive compensation system of consumer public interest litigation in China,and analyze the problems existing in its operation mechanism,distribution mechanism and judicial procedure.The last part is to put forward corresponding suggestions aiming at the problems existing in the punitive compensation system of consumer public interest litigation,so as to improve the punitive compensation system of consumer public interest litigation and realize the maximization of public and private interests.By comparing it with the punitive compensation model of consumer public interest litigation in other countries,so that the domestic punitive compensation system of consumer public interest litigation can give full play to its own value while drawing on its advantages.